Wednesday

Aug 28, 2019 at 6:20 PMAug 29, 2019 at 1:14 PM

Several participants spoke of fear as they sat at tables of eight in the basement of First Congregational Church on Wednesday afternoon, but many mentioned feeling hopeful before they left the Downtown church.

More than 200 people, including 80 local high school students who led the discussion at the tables, gathered at the church for a Big Table discussion on gun violence.

Throughout central Ohio, dozens of Big Table discussions, focusing on a variety of topics, were held as part of the annual event created by the Columbus Foundation four years ago to bring people together to talk about topics of interest.

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The event has grown in size each year and, for the first time, this year had a universal theme to guide people: the future of Columbus, said Alicia Szempruch, who manages the event for the Columbus Foundation.

The Rev. Tim Ahrens, senior pastor at First Congregational Church, knew he wanted to discuss gun violence when he awoke on the morning of Aug. 5

"After the horrible weekend in El Paso and Dayton ... I just sat straight up in bed and I said 'We've got to get people together and we've got to talk and listen to each other,'" Ahrens said, referencing the Aug. 3 mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart and the Aug. 4 mass shooting in the Oregon District of Dayton.

Within a week of Ahrens' pitching the idea to Columbus Foundation President and CEO Doug Kridler, 150 people had signed up to attend the event at First Congregational Church.

As people gathered in the Washington Gladden Social Justice Park next to the church before the discussion, Ahrens instructed them to listen more than speak.

"We as adults need to be listening rather than formulating our next sentence," Ahrens said. "The teens bring hope out of their despair and their anxiety."

The students — mostly juniors and seniors from Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center and the Mosaic program, which combines cultural understanding with arts education to upper-class students throughout Franklin County — talked about such things as the active-shooter drills they now have to do in their schools, and the fear and anxiety they can cause.

At a table in the corner, 16-year-old Liv Puterbaugh, who attends New Albany High School and is in Mosaic, sat shoulder to shoulder with Lucy McGary, 16, who attends Dublin Scioto High School and is also in Mosaic. They spoke passionately to six women about gun control.

>> PHOTOS: The Big Table

"Just do something ... Make it harder to get a gun," Puterbaugh said.

The women asked her and McGary questions about how to change people's minds about gun ownership and gun rights.

"They don't understand the fear when I go to school, they don't understand the fear in the back of my head," said McGary, who lives in Dublin.

At another table, a 17-year-old student from Reynoldsburg High School shared how her classmates glorify guns and brag to others that they are "packing," or pose with guns in photos on social media.

Some of the adults at the table were shocked as she described how guns are considered "cool" in some crowds at her school. Roa, who is in Mosaic, called it "disgusting."

Some conversations turned to race, others to views on gun policy and legislation.

People are "talking about red flags when we ought to be prohibiting assault rifles and magazines," said Tom Hadley, 66, of Bexley, referring to so-called red-flag laws that would seize guns from people that courts deem dangerous and a proposal for expanded background checks on gun sales. "I don't think the half-measures are going to work."

Hadley said he came to the gun-violence discussion to tell people that he thinks bans on assault weapons are just the starting point.

Around the room, people admitted they didn't have all the answers, but many said they were just happy to have the discussion.

Cynthia Tyson of Dublin came to the Big Table event "just to look for some hope around the topic and to be in the same room with people at least willing to have the conversation."

Tyson shared fond memories of holding a gun when hunting squirrels on her uncle's land as a child.

"We used guns for hunting," but not semi-automatics, she said.

Before everyone left the church, Ahrens asked the participants to call out something they took away from the event.

"Hope" was mentioned more than once. Someone offered "vote." A student said "listen to others."

Ahrens told those assembled to turn their feelings into action in hopes of making the world better.

"I hope they leave with the idea that we have to do something, as was cried out to Gov. DeWine in Dayton," Ahrens said. "I think we need people at the table today to hear the cries and take them home and not forget."

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

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